Senate's education bill flexible on teacher mentorship

Minimum teacher salaries would be raised to $35,000.

Mar. 6, 2013

Herman Quirmbach

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The Iowa Senate is advancing a statewide education reform initiative for Iowa’s public schools, although it’s not an identical blueprint of the proposal unveiled earlier this session by Gov. Terry Branstad.

A Senate subcommittee Wednesday voted 2-1 to approve Senate Study Bill 1128, which is expected to clear the Senate Education Committee today and be readied for debate soon on the Senate floor.

The centerpiece of the bill is a series of teacher leadership, mentorship and professional development models. The plan offers three models for school districts to choose from, one of which is a modified version of the governor’s model. It would also allow school districts to develop a comparable model using state guidance.

Minimum teacher salaries would be raised to $35,000, up from $28,000, as Branstad proposes. However, the Senate has scrapped the governor’s plan to establish a college- or career-ready seal that high school students could earn in addition to their diplomas.

Sen. Herman Quirmbach, D-Ames, chairman of the Education Committee, described the legislation as “very much a work in progress,” adding he was compiling a list of suggested changes.

The Republican-led Iowa House last month approved its own version of education reform. The package sets minimum teacher salaries to $32,000 and it declares the new series of leadership and mentorship opportunities for teachers would be optional for school districts.

The Senate bill focuses solely on policy without appropriating money. But it reinforces majority Democrats’ stance in favor of a 4 percent increase in basic school aid over each of the next two school years for kindergarten-through-12th-grade programs, plus increases in so-called categorical aid for certain programs. Those school aid increases would cost $148.6 million the first year and $129 million the second year.

The Senate bill also calls for additional money for education reform, although the exact funding hasn’t been determined, Quirmbach said. However, the figure is expected to be in excess of $180 million, and school districts would be told they won’t have to comply with unfunded mandates.

“So they would only have to implement those parts of the model that they could afford with the money that they gave them,” Quirmbach said. “The bottom line is that we will be insulating the taxpayers here.”

Most school-related lobbying groups said they were pleased to see progress in the Senate on education reform, although nearly every lobbyist offered suggestions for improvements. Quirmbach and Sen. Brian Schoenjahn, D-Arlington, voted in support of the bill, while Sen. Joni Ernst, R-Red Oak, declined to endorse it. Ernst said she didn’t understand why basic school financial aid was included in the measure, but she remarked, “Overall, I think we are heading in the right direction.”

Department of Education lobbyist Phil Wise said the agency commends the Senate for moving the bill forward, although he has concerns about some provisions, including costs.

“We understand that this is the first step in the legislative process,” Wise said, expressing a willingness to work with the Senate on the proposal.

Tom Narak, a lobbyist for School Administrators of Iowa, said his organization believes provisions for parental involvement are needed in the legislation. “We don’t want to forget about the impact of parents on reform,” he said.